


Five things that never happened to Justin Thomas

by SharpestRose



Category: Batman: The Animated Series
Genre: Gen, five things that never happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-29
Updated: 2011-06-29
Packaged: 2017-10-20 20:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/216743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharpestRose/pseuds/SharpestRose





	Five things that never happened to Justin Thomas

1.

The first shot goes wide, but the second doesn't, and Justin's mother makes a tiny surprised noise as she falls backwards.

Mr Wayne - "Call me Bruce, Justin, please" - goes incredibly still. So still that Justin thinks maybe time's slowed down, only he can hear his heartbeat in his ears going thuda-thuda-thuda really fast. His Mom's eyes are looking up at the streetlight and he knows she's going to blink soon, any second now, because the air here's all smoggy and it must be making her eyes go watery and she'll have to blink...

"Justin," Mr Wayne says, holding Justin's shoulders. "I need you to go back into the theatre and ask somebody to call an ambulance for Veronica. Can you do that?"

Usually Mr Wayne's voice is jokey and friendly, but now he sounds super-serious. Justin thinks that this probably means his Mom's really badly hurt.

"Where are you going?" he manages to ask. His voice sounds squeaky.

"I have to go stop the man who did this. I'm going to come back for you. I promise."

Mr Wayne runs off. Justin knows he should go back to the theatre and get someone to come help his mother, but he's starting to realize that it's not going to make a difference if he doesn't do it right away.

Her skin already feels cool to touch, like she's been walking in the winter without a coat. But Justin's Mom always has a coat, and always reminds him to wear one himself. He forgets stuff like that sometimes.

He sits beside her and strokes her hair. It doesn't feel right to leave her alone. He closes her eyes, too, so the she doesn't have to keep looking up into the streetlight.

Justin isn't sure how long he's there, but after a while Batman's there too.

"Did you call an ambulance?" he asks Justin.

"Not yet," Justin says quietly. "I have to wait for Mr Wayne. He said he'd come back. He has to come back."

"I'm here," Batman says, and Justin recognizes the voice. Batman touches his shoulder carefully, and Justin hears himself making a strangled sobbing noise. He grabs onto Batman and clings for dear life.

"I'm here, Justin. It'll be all right." Batman's - Bruce's - words are shaky, like he's trying not to cry too.

Justin's glad somebody believes that things are going to be okay. He doesn't know if he'll be able to ever again.

2.

He knows the others wonder about him. Batgirl, and Nightwing. They wonder how he's managed to end up living in the manor and hanging out in the cave without ever putting on a costume. How a kid can be Bruce Wayne's ward and not Batman's.

"Maybe I'm psychic. Maybe I knew Tim was gonna come along," he offered once by way of explanation. It's only half a joke. Back when he first got here a year ago, he was still hurting so much it felt like the world was going to end, and Justin knew for sure that if bad stuff could happen to one kid, it would happen to more. Look at Bruce, after all. Kids ended up alone all the time.

Justin knew right from the start that there would be some other kid, sooner or later, who'd be a good Robin. And then Batman came home all scratched up and hurt, and Tim was there beside him. Tim, who continually loads Justin's saved games on the computer and then messes up all the health points and inventory items before saving again, who taught Justin to throw a basketball so it'll go in the direction intended, who understands that sometimes the only way to get rid of a nightmare is to get into someone else's bed and just listen to them breathe.

Batgirl and Nightwing don't get him, but Justin figures they will one day.

Because one day Tim's going to be Batman.

And he's going to need an Alfred.

  
3.

From a combination of the beginner's French they're learning at school, and code-words from their computer games, and obscure private jokes, Justin and Tim have made up a personal language. They chatter away to each other during recess and at the dinner table and when they're supposed to be doing homework.

They're making a website which proves that not only is Bigfoot real, but also that he's living in Gotham's subway system. It's not easy to sneak one of the manor's antique bearskin rugs down to the station, but Tim looks hilarious draped in it and lurking in the shadows. Justin can't keep the camera steady, he's laughing so much.

It's okay that the photos turn out blurry, because it makes them look authentic. They send the url to the Weekly World News and watch the visitor count rise and rise.

"Aristotle once said that a friend was a single soul dwelling in two bodies," Alfred says one afternoon, when he catches them trying to borrow a jug of fruit punch from the kitchen. "In your case, Masters Timothy and Justin, I can't help but hope he was correct. One talent for mischief between you is more than enough."

  
4.

It's been more than a week. Batman and Batgirl have scoured the city. There's nothing. No word, no sign, no witnesses.

There's never nothing. There's always some clue, some little chance thing which unlocks the whole puzzle. They'll find a footprint, or a scrap of cloth, or somebody who saw something.

They have to.

Justin goes to school and collects Tim's homework from his teachers, and says "yeah, he's got chicken pox. No, I had it when I was a kid. He'll be ready to come back to school in a fortnight, the doctor said."

Justin goes down to the cave and makes sure that Tim's uniforms are all hung up properly and his spare belts are all stocked. He won't want to waste any time on checking supplies when he gets back. Tim gets antsy if he has to go two nights running without doing something heroic. Justin can't even imagine how pent-up he must be by now.

Sometimes Alfred and Bruce and Barbara talk in hushed voices, and even though Justin never looks at them he knows they're glancing at him. He ignores it. They're not allowed to give up hope. He won't let them. The first one who dares to sit him down for a Talk is going to get a punch in the windpipe.

Tim taught him that move. "Even ordinary kids gotta know self-defense. C'mon, try and hit me again."

Justin sits at the window and waits for Batman to come home. Tonight'll be the night he brings Robin back. They'll all laugh with shaky relief and Tim will tell an extravagantly embellished version of events which paints him as the coolest guy in the world. It'll be perfect. It has to be. Justin's already told Tim's teachers that he's coming back. Tim would never make Justin lie.

  
5.

"You're sending him away, aren't you?" Justin's voice echoes a little. It sounds strange. He's never shouted in the Cave before.

"He needs more care than we can give him here," Bruce answers, and doesn't turn around. He's at the microscope, examining the chip Justin found on Tim's neck last week.

Justin swallows and grits his teeth, trying not to shake. He doesn't want to sound like he's lost his cool.

"How can you think of it? How dare you think of it? Did you decide he's not good enough to be Robin anymore, is that the reason? You never kicked me out for not wanting a cape and a mask."

Bruce's body language reminds Justin of someone who's just been punched. Good.

"I'm not 'kicking him out'. Tim's very ill, Justin. He..." Bruce's voice trembles, and he goes quiet. He still hasn't turned around.

"Don't make us leave. Please." Justin doesn't care that he's begging. This is more important than pride.

Now Bruce turns. "What?" He looks shocked.

"This is our home."

Bruce looks like he wants to rest his hand on Justin's shoulder. Justin steps away, out of range. He doesn't want any platitudes.

"Justin, you don't... I know you and Tim are close, but -"

"Don't you even say it." Now Justin's voice is shaking, and so are his hands, and his eyes are stinging.

"Tim might never again be the boy you knew," Bruce says in his Batman voice, the cold logic a relief after the pain Justin could hear in his earlier words.

"You think I don't know that? He's Tim. Why can't you see that that's the only thing that matters?" The words come out in a wail. Justin can feel his eyes welling up, so he turns and runs out of the Cave. Upstairs, he sits on his bed and sobs until his lungs feel scraped raw.

"Justin?" Tim's voice is smaller now. There's no laughter in it anymore except for the bad, broken noises he can't control. He's smaller too, even skinnier than he was right at the start. His eyes are hollow and bruised-looking in his face.

Black hair and black shadows and white skin and white pajamas. Tim doesn't like most colors much, now.

"Nightmare?" Justin asks, though he doesn't have to in order to know the answer. Tim nods, still holding onto the doorframe. Sometimes he has trouble keeping his balance. "C'mere."

Justin settles them back against the pillows. Tim's face is damp against his neck. The overhead light's still on, but that's okay. Tim doesn't mind the light.

"Wanna talk about it?" Sometimes Tim does. Sometimes he forgets the words he wants and just cries. Sometimes he laughs. This time, Tim just holds on tighter. He feels like he's made entirely out of sharp angles and elbows.

"I'm here," Justin whispers. He has to be careful when he hugs Tim. Some of the burns are still tender. "I'm here, Tim. It'll be all right."

Justin knows that, surer than he's ever known anything. He believes it with all his heart.

Somebody has to.


End file.
